<facepalm> Hawaii state officials sent out a false "inbound missile warning" and 1.5 million people have to go change their underwear. (not really sure what hula dancers wear...somebody might actually have to hose down the stage)

Quote:

Emergency alerts sent to Hawaii residents Saturday warning of a “ballistic missile threat” were a false alarm reportedly sent by mistake, officials said.

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, several alarmed Hawaii residents began posting screenshots of alerts they had received, reading: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted at 8:20 a.m. local time that there was no missile threat to the state.

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The U.S. Navy also confirmed in an email the emergency alerts had been sent in error.

“USPACOM has detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii,” U.S. Navy Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said in an email. “Earlier message was sent in error. State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon as possible.”

At 8:45 a.m. local time, an additional alert was sent to Hawaii residents advising them that the first warning had been a false alarm.

It is unclear how or why the initial alert was sent out, and how many people received it. What was clear was that the first message caused a brief panic, at least on social media, among those who read it and expected the worst.

On CNN, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said she received the alert, called Hawaii officials and confirmed it was “an inadvertent message that was sent out.”

“You can only imagine what kicked in,” Gabbard told CNN. “This is a real threat facing Hawaii, so people got this message on their phones and they thought, 15 minutes, we have 15 minutes before me and my family could be dead.”

Less than two months ago, Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea. The tests were scheduled to be conducted on the first business day of every month for the foreseeable future.

The tests were an audible example of the growing strife with North Korea, which has spooked other communities in the still-hypothetical line of fire. Guam distributed a pamphlet on nuclear attack preparedness that encouraged people to avoid using conditioner, “as it will bind the toxins to your hair.” A 16-page bulletin released by emergency management authorities in California warned people to beware of radioactive pets.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), acknowledging the heightened tensions, admonished the wayward message and vowed to investigate how it occurred.

“At a time of heightened tensions, we need to make sure all information released to community is accurate,” Hirono tweeted Saturday. “We need to get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again.”

Even as information was scarce, there were calls on Twitter for anyone who was responsible for sending the message in error to be held accountable.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said the false alarm was based on “a human error.”

“There is nothing more important to Hawai’i than professionalizing and fool-proofing this process,” Schatz tweeted Saturday.

He added in a subsequent tweet: “What happened today is totally inexcusable. The whole state was terrified. There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process.”

Less than two months ago, Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea. The tests were scheduled to be conducted on the first business day of every month for the foreseeable future.

Our public siren tests are the first Wednesday of every month. They only otherwise get used when the occasional tornado is spotted in the area, but is there in case of NBC attack, the New Madrid fault snapping, or an invasion of sharks with friggin' lasers on their heads.

Had them for years. Yet Hawaii didn't have any public alert sirens running until recently?! WTF?

I guess things have been peachy in HI for ages? No worries about natural disasters or anything?

Honestly, if there were an actual DPRK ballistic missile that was suspect of being armed with a nuclear weapon and which was suspected of having a trajectory to strike U.S. territory, I would entertain the possibility that the best approach would be to QUIETLY notify certain Federal and State officials and/or disaster-preparedness organizations, launch the interdiction missiles and hope the story to be told in 12 hours will be of a foiled attack.

Distributing an alert via mobile device is probably just about the most useless and stupid effort to promote public welfare in response to a suspected nuclear attack.

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Honestly, if there were an actual DPRK ballistic missile that was suspect of being armed with a nuclear weapon and which was suspected of having a trajectory to strike U.S. territory, I would entertain the possibility that the best approach would be to QUIETLY notify certain Federal and State officials and/or disaster-preparedness organizations, launch the interdiction missiles and hope the story to be told in 12 hours will be of a foiled attack.

Distributing an alert via mobile device is probably just about the most useless and stupid effort to promote public welfare in response to a suspected nuclear attack.

Some people would be fucked, but early warning could still help blast fringers.

Less than two months ago, Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea. The tests were scheduled to be conducted on the first business day of every month for the foreseeable future.

Our public siren tests are the first Wednesday of every month. They only otherwise get used when the occasional tornado is spotted in the area, but is there in case of NBC attack, the New Madrid fault snapping, or an invasion of sharks with friggin' lasers on their heads.

Had them for years. Yet Hawaii didn't have any public alert sirens running until recently?! WTF?

I guess things have been peachy in HI for ages? No worries about natural disasters or anything?

It is the same here in Toulouse, a siren test the first wednesday of every month, because there are chemical plants to the South of the town. One of them exploded in 2001, killing 30 people.

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